Through the Flames
by KandyHawes
Summary: Emily Armstrong,a 24 year old waitress, meets wrestler Glenn Jacobs and falls for him but when things go wrong she finds herself fighting for her life. Will she survive or will she die leaving Glenn alone?
1. Prologue

I couldn't help but smile at my parents as they sat on the couch holding little Ehren for the first time. It's been a little over seven weeks since our little angel was born and they were finally able to catch a flight from Canada to come and visit. She was already growing like a weed and I'm sure Glenn will be shocked to see how much she's grown in the three weeks he's been away in Europe. He didn't want to go of course but he had to. It had been hard when he first left, I wasn't all that sure of what to do by myself with a newborn but my in-laws Thomas and Anne came around all the time to help out and so I was able to get a break when needed.

My parents however hadn't been able to get away from their restaurant until this week, their manager had been on vacation and so they would have had no one to leave in charge and so they put off the trip and arrived this morning. They were of course criticizing Glenn for not being here but really it wasn't his fault he was just doing his job, what was so bad about that? I understood why he was gone, I was okay with it and once the doctor okayed traveling for little Ehren we'd be on the road with him ourselves. I love my parents, really I do but sometimes they just get on my nerves.

"So, tell us Emily, when is that husband of yours coming home?" my mother asked as I walked out into the living room from the kitchen. I handed her a cup of coffee and sat down across from her before answering. "Tonight actually, his plane should be landing around 5:30 and his parents are picking him up and coming back here for dinner." Of course that was only if there were no delays like the last time where he ended up nearly six hours late and almost missed Ehren's birth. I brushed my brown hair out of my eyes before looking out the window. It was only just after 2 in the afternoon, I hated waiting for him to come home; I was always impatient.

"He is treating you right, right?" my father asked, switching Ehren to his other arm, his left clearly have fallen asleep. "Yes dad, for the last time. Glenn treats me like I'm a queen," I said, getting frustrated. "Well how can he treat you like a queen if he's not here? He certainly can't look after you all the way in Europe and he really can't help with the baby from there can he?" My mother added. I just rolled my eyes. They worry a lot about me and the fact that I am 25 years old and married to a man 18 years my senior does not help their worry. "You'll see mom, trust me, you've never seen us together at home. He takes care of us just fine."

My mother looked sceptical but went back to cooing at my daughter. I shook my head and made my way into the kitchen to let our two Great Danes, Jack and Renée, back into the house. The dogs were Glenn's idea. He said we should get them to keep me company and to protect the house which they did, sometimes even from him. The dogs barrelled past me and into the living room where Renée laid down next to Ehren's bassinet and Jack laid down at my father's feet. I sighed and leaned against the doorway and closed my eyes. I missed my husband; I know I tried not to show it but it I did. I heard the tell-tale signs of Ehren starting to cry and waited to see if my parents needed my help, they probably wouldn't but I wasn't used to them being around her and so even though they were my own parents I was a little edgy.

"I think someone has a dirty diaper," My dad said looking up at me. I smiled and nodded before walking over to where he was seated and taking my daughter from him. "Come on Angel, let's get you all cleaned up," I said as I carefully carried her up the stairs towards her room. The room was simple, a pale pink in colour with a cherry wood crib beside the far wall, a dresser and change table and a rocking chair. It would be a quick change seeing as it was just a wet diaper and so I set to the task. Minutes later I was finished and Ehren was smiling at me while sucking on her tiny fist. Glenn swore up and down she was going to be a little wrestler, which wouldn't shock me because all throughout my pregnancy she was extremely active. Glenn had been calling her his little football player since the day he first felt her move.

Ehren yawned and I smiled down at her. Looking at the clock I saw that now was around the time that she would go down for her nap and so I laid her down in her crib, covered her up and reached up to turn on her mobile. Switching on the baby monitor I made my way downstairs where my parents had turned on the television and were watching some action movie. I sat down in Glenn's armchair and curled up like I would if he were sitting there watching the TV with us. I did this frequently when he was away, just like I would wear his shirts.

I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes my mom was holding Ehren and dad himself was asleep with his head tilted back against the couch. I looked at the clock on the wall over the TV stand and was shocked to see that it was after four. I needed to get cooking dinner so I got up and made my way slowly to the kitchen. "Do you need any help in there?" my mom called after me. "No Ma, I'm fine." I really didn't want her in my kitchen. There was a reason why my father was the cook in the restaurant and my mother wasn't.

I quickly got to work, taking beef chunks from the fridge, adding them to a pot with water, chopped onions, celery, peppers, potatoes and topped it off with diced tomatoes that I mashed a little and then put it in the oven to cook. It should be done by six if I did it right and it was one of Glenn's favourites. Plus the clean up after was quick. I put together a quick caesar salad and put it in the fridge. It took me an hour to get the food put together and so now I was down to about an hour before Glenn would be home and I was getting antsy. I decided that I would make a cake of some sort to keep myself busy. I managed to find a quick recipe that I used to make all the time, a triple chocolate cake. I was just putting it in the oven with the stew like concoction when Ehren started crying again.

I made my way out to the living room and there was the problem, the stupid dog was staying just out of her reach and it was getting her angry. "Renée, knock it off!" I said and sure enough the horse-like animal moved over enough so that she was eye level with the baby. My parents laughed but were cautious of the dogs. I wasn't worried. One of the neighbours came over once just after Ehren was born and the dogs nearly attacked her for going near the baby. I sat down on the couch and took Ehren from my mother and Ehren looked up at me with a little grin that was similar to her father's when he was planning something. "What's that look for little lady?" I cooed with a smile.

She only smiled and looked around the room as if she were avoiding me; she was definitely her father's child. I handed her back to my mother so that I could go and check on the food. Everything looked fine and so I just stayed in the kitchen for a few minutes looking out the window into the front yard where I could see the road clearly. The smile I pretty much had on my face the whole day brightened even more when I recognised the truck coming towards the house. It belonged to my in-laws which meant that my sneaky husband gave me a fake arrival time or else was just running early. "Hey Ma? Keep an eye on Ehren for a minute!" I yelled before I pushed open the front door and stood on the porch while my father in law parked the truck.

As soon as the truck was parked and Glenn had gotten out of it I practically ran off the porch and jumped into his arms. He caught me with no effort on his part while his parents laughed as they walked into the house. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed gently before leaning forward to kiss him. Glenn backed up and leaned against the truck and pulled me closer to him. Our tongues tangled together briefly before we finally had to pull away for air. "Mmm, hello there," he murmured before placing a quick kiss on my lips again.

"I missed you," I whispered against his lips. He smiled before kissing me once again. "I missed you too little one," He put me back down on the ground carefully, still holding me close. "Your parents get here okay?" Wrapping my arms around his waist, I leaned against him and rested my head against his chest. "Yeah, they're here. Driving me nuts already, going on and on about you not being here." Glenn only sighed and kissed the top of my head. "Come on then, let's get inside. I want to see my princess." I smiled up at him and grabbed his hand after he had gotten his bags out of the back of the truck and slung one over his shoulder while he carried the other in his hand.

We made our way into the house where Glenn was pounced on by the dogs before he even got halfway through the door. He dropped his bags in the front hall for the moment and bent to pet the dogs before he kicked his shoes off and pulled me into his arms again. I smiled up at him as he bent down to pick me up so that I was eye level with him. He smiled and leaned forward a little so that he could kiss me. He put me down when someone cleared their throat. Turning to look at the intruder I grinned at my mother in law. "What? I missed him," I said laughing before I dragged Glenn into the living room.

I watched as his face lit up as soon as he laid eyes on our daughter. My mom handed her over to Glenn who happily cuddled her close to his chest. "There's my little princess. Wow you've gotten big haven't you?" Ehren simply smiled up at him before yawning. Glenn sat in his chair and I made my way into the kitchen to grab him a drink. I made him a coffee and made my way back into the living room, pausing at the door to watch Glenn cuddling with Ehren and talking to my parents. He smiled at me when I set the coffee on the table beside him. "Thanks darlin'." he said before turning his attention back to the baby.

"So, how was your flight?" I asked, just trying to get some sort of conversation going between my parents and Glenn. I know that Glenn would try but my parents would either insult his career or him for being away so much. "It was alright, would have been better if I were able to sleep but someone had a few too many drinks and wouldn't shut up," he said before he leaned forward a little to wrap an arm around my waist and he pulled me carefully into his lap so he could hold myself and Ehren. I snuggled up to him and was instantly comfortable. This is where I felt like I was at home, safe in his arms with our beautiful daughter. My parents were looking slightly annoyed at this but I really didn't care, this was my husband and my house, if they didn't like it then that was too damn bad.

"I better check on dinner," I said, getting off of Glenn's lap reluctantly and moving to the kitchen. Opening the oven I took out the cake which by the looks of it I had failed miserably at making. I sighed and set it on the counter and then nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt an arm snake around my waist and a set of lips on the back of my neck. I smiled and leaned back into him, loving the feeling of being in his arms. "I think you're cake died there babe," Glenn said with a laugh. Now I should be mad at this but honestly it looked like someone had murdered the cake with an axe so I couldn't help but laugh.

I turned in his arms and let him lift me up and set me on the counter away from the food. Glenn wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me to the edge of the counter. From this position I was able to reach up and wrap my arms around his shoulders, something I was rarely able to do unless he was sitting down or we were in bed. I laid my head on his chest and closed my eyes, taking the time to listen to his heartbeat while with one hand he rubbed tiny circles on my back. I looked up at him and smiled before he leaned forward and down a little to gently kiss me.

I wrapped my arms around his neck as his hands came to rest on my hips. Glenn slipped one hand under my t-shirt, his warm hands moving to caress my back causing me to moan. He smiled into the kiss and pulled me even closer to him while slipping his tongue between my lips. My arms slid down from around his neck and onto his chest where my hands clutched at his shirt. Unfortunately I remembered that I was indeed human and thus needed to breathe. I broke the kiss and stared into his eyes while we were both panting and gasping for air.

"Now that Darlin', is a welcome home kiss," Glenn said with a grin. I couldn't help but laugh. He was of course correct. That was definitely a better welcome home kiss than the one he received earlier; mainly because we had been interrupted earlier. "I love you," I said, just staring up at his handsome face. He smirked, leaned down and gave me a soft but quick kiss. "I love you too Darlin'" I was about to tell him just how much I missed him when we were interrupted by my mother. "What's this? Checking on the food? Right I'm so sure," she said, rolling her eyes. I watched Glenn's face fall and it was lucky he wasn't facing her otherwise she'd use that to dig into him more and insult him for being weak or something along those lines. "You know Emily, you only _just _had Ehren. You really don't want another child to look after while he's traipsing around all over the world do you?" Ok, no she did not just go there; she did not just bring my daughter into whatever her problem with Glenn is.

"Mom, seriously, back off. Honestly, what Glenn and I do together is our business and we _plan_ on having more children. Not right away but we do plan on having more. So would you please just stay out of this?" Well there is a first, I have never actually defended Glenn from my mother but enough is enough. She huffed and I couldn't believe it but she actually stomped her foot and turned to go back into the living room to leave Glenn staring at me open mouthed. "What?" I asked "She needs to butt out." Glenn leaned forward and kissed me gently before leaning his forehead against my own and smiling. "Are you trying to play hero?" he asked. I smiled and shook my head. "Do I need to?"

Glenn shook his head and smiled. "I thought that I was supposed to be the knight in shining armour." Shrugging I chuckled a little. "Sometimes it's good to let someone else play hero." I pushed him back from me so that I could hop off the counter; if I didn't then dinner would never get finished. I smiled up at my husband and wrapped my arms around him. "Why don't you go spend some time with Ehren while I finish off the food?" Glenn smiled down at me, kissed the top of my head and walked back into the living room. I couldn't say I wasn't happy, I had my husband back home and that made me happier than anything. Now if only I could get my mother to like him.

Dinner was a quiet affair. My parents were never ones to talk when eating which made dinner awkward seeing as Glenn and I always talked to each other when eating dinner and Thomas and Anne left before we ate so no one really said anything while we ate. When everyone was finished eating I went to check on Ehren who was in the living room while Glenn had volunteered to clear the table and get the dirty dishes in the dishwasher I tried to tell him not to worry about it, I figured he'd be tired and just want to relax but he shuffled me in the direction of the living room instead. My parents followed me into the living room and sat themselves down on the sofa talking amongst themselves. I don't know what they were saying nor did I really care at that point.

As soon as I had entered the living room Ehren started crying. Before I could even say anything Glenn came rushing in from the kitchen and plucked her out of her bassinet. "What's wrong with my little princess huh?" I had to hold back a giggle. This was nothing new to me, he frequently came running whenever she cried but my parents had never witnessed this and they were currently looking at Glenn with their jaws dropped. "She's probably hungry; she was fed a few hours ago." Glenn nodded and made his way back to the kitchen with Ehren and then I could hear him putting a bottle together while talking to her.

With him home it was nice, I knew he'd pretty much help with everything and I'd get a chance to relax a little. My parents were still staring at the door to the kitchen when I sat down on the couch with them. "Is he always like that?" my mother asked me when she finally turned to look at me. I smiled and nodded. "I told you when you called last week that he's a good father." She shook her head and muttered something but I wasn't paying attention. Glenn had walked back into the room, bottle and baby in hand and sat himself down in his chair and started to feed our little girl. I couldn't wipe the silly grin off my face. I haven't been this happy since before he left 3 weeks ago.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Shy called, she wanted to know if she could stay here when Mark goes to visit the troops next month. She really doesn't want to be alone and I told her I'd talk to you about it." Shiloh, or Shy as everyone called her, is my best friend. I've known her since I was 8 years old and we've been like sisters our whole lives. She also happened to be engaged to one of Glenn's best friends and colleague Mark Calaway, who just happened to be the Undertaker. The two of them had met at our wedding and they pretty much hit it off right away, even though he somewhat scared her at first. "You know you don't have to ask, she's welcome here anytime she wants." He said without bothering to look up from Ehren.

Ten minutes after we sat down Ehren decided that she was done eating. Glenn cradled her against his shoulder so that he could burp her, obviously in complete daddy mode now. It didn't take long for her to burp but she ended up spitting up all down Glenn's back. "Well then, I guess that's my cue to go take a shower." Glenn said laughing before handing Ehren to me and then headed upstairs to our room. I looked down at Ehren smiled at her. "Well little girl that's one way to welcome Daddy home now isn't it?" Ehren on made her little baby sounds with a grin on her face. She seemed to be proud of herself. I looked over at my parents, Dad was having trouble not puking himself, he had always been like that and Mom just had a blank look on her face.

It wasn't long before Ehren was falling asleep and I got up so that I could take her upstairs to the nursery. "Your father and I are going for a drive; we'll be back in a little while." I nodded and gave them my house keys just incase Glenn and I were in bed when they got back. It was early but I had been up at 6 to pick them up from the airport and it was likely that Glenn hadn't gotten much sleep before getting on the plane as well. When they left I made my way upstairs and into the nursery. I tucked Ehren in and stood watching her for a few moments when Glenn walked in the room and wrapped his arms around my waist and I leaned back into him.

I felt him kiss the top of my head and I turned in his arms so that I could hug him in return and smiled up at him. I noticed that he was now only wearing sweat pants and I took a moment to admire his strong chest. He stooped down enough so that he could gently kiss me before letting me go and turning on the baby monitor before he grabbed my hand and guided me down to the living room. He sat himself down in his chair and pulled me onto his lap where I happily snuggled into him. I was going to suggest going to bed, he however had other ideas apparently and turned on the TV. He found a horror movie on the Pay-Per-View channels which he knew would scare the hell out of me. I tried to glare at him but it just wasn't working. He grinned at me before turning to the television.

Whenever something would jump out, I too would jump and he would laugh at me and then kiss me before turning his attention once again to the movie. Around halfway through the movie Glenn started rubbing small circles on my back. I started to doze off not long after and I ended up falling asleep fairly quickly. I woke up a few hours later in bed. Someone had changed me into a nightgown and I knew it was Glenn, who had an arm wrapped around me. I could tell by his breathing that he wasn't asleep and without even looking at him I knew he was staring at me. "My parents back yet?" I asked and rolled over so that I could lay my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, they got back about 10 minutes after you fell asleep." I nodded in acknowledgement and buried my face in his neck, savouring his scent. I placed a kiss on his neck and then gently nipped at him, and then kissed the spot. "You shouldn't do that you know." I looked up at him and grinned. "Do what? I'm not doing anything." Glenn growled and rolled me over so that I was on my back and he was hovering over me. "You shouldn't start things you can't finish." He murmured before leaning down and kissing me. "Who says that I can't finish it Mr. Jacobs?" I grinned at his confused look while wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I had my check-up yesterday big guy. Doctor says I'm all clear to return to normal activities." I watched as his face lit up before he attacked my lips with his own. I moaned and arched up into him as his lips moved from mine and he kissed down my jaw line before moving to my neck. I moaned again when he hit a sensitive spot and trailed my hands down to his strong shoulders and then down to his chest while he returned to my lips and slipped his tongue through my lips and circled around my own. By now my eyes were closed and my hands were busy feeling the strong muscles on his chest as they tensed and twitched at my touch.

While my hands wandered his chest his had made their way down my sides, brushing against my chest, down to my hips and then to the hem of my nightgown, just above the thigh. His lips had found mine once again as he ran his hands down my legs, when he drew them back up he grabbed the hem of my nightgown and began to slowly tug it up and over my head leaving me in just my panties. When it was off he looked down at me with a smile. "Beautiful, as always," he murmured before leaning down to kiss me gently. He attacked my neck again for several moments before moving on to my shoulder, kissing along one before making his way to the other.

My mind was jumping everywhere, it had been a few months since we'd been able to do anything sexual and it was like the first time all over again. He was lightly nipping his way down my body, slowly making his way to my breasts where he gently bit and licked at one while kneading the other so he didn't neglect one before switching. While he was doing this I found myself whimpering softly while trailing my hands up his arms, up to his shoulders and down his back feeling the muscles tighten and twitch under my hands.

He was murmuring softly, I couldn't make out what he was saying but I know it would be something sweet. I arched up into him as he moved on from my breasts, kissing his way down my stomach before slipping a knee between my thighs, parting them and allowing him to fit comfortably between them and moving down further so that he could slide my panties down my legs and drop them on the floor beside the bed. He kissed my thighs before moving back up my body and kissing me softly all the while slipping a hand down to run a finger against me before slipping it inside me gently, drowning out my moans with his kiss.

He slipped a second finger in me and began to gently move them in and out of my body, prepping me for what I knew would bring relief and pleasure that I had known what seems like thousands of times before. It didn't take me long to reach my peak and just before I went over the edge he stopped and removed his hand, leaving me to groan at the loss of contact. He told me to shush and moved off of the bed where he removed his sweat pants. I sat up and grabbing his arm I pulled him back on to the bed and over my body.

He obviously got the hint as he parted my thighs once again and settled himself between them. I watched as he stroked himself a few times before moving to kiss me once again and gently pushed himself into me, stretching me as he always had, there is nothing little about that man. We both moaned at the contact, his more of a growl. He held still for a moment before he pulled out and thrust back into me, making me tremble and starting a rhythm that he liked and I wasn't about to object to it. It didn't take me long to start moving with him, every time he pulled out I followed.

I knew I had to be quiet, my parents were just down the hall but the little shocks of pleasure coursing through me were making it very difficult for me to be quiet. I was clutching at his shoulders and brought my legs up to wrap around his hips, pulling him deeper into me and making him hit that special spot that he knew would send me into an oblivion. It took less than three thrusts for my trembling to increase and then I was seeing stars as my world crashed down around me. I cried out, his name falling from my lips as he moaned and thrust into me several more times before he growled, buried his hands in my hair. He kissed me hard before burying his face in my neck and shuddering above me as he pushed himself as deeply as he could spilling himself inside me.

We stayed like that for several minutes, trying to catch our breath and gain back our composure. During this time he was going back and forth between kissing my neck and my lips. "Love you, my beautiful little wife." I grinned up at him and kissed him softly, moving my arms from around his shoulders to around his neck. "I love you too." With that he decided to move off of me, something that I didn't want and I showed him this by tightening my hold on him. "Baby I'm too heavy," he said trying to get me to let him go. "No you're not, stay there." He shook his head and kissed me again, turning me to mush and allowing him to roll onto his back, taking me with him to lie on his chest.

I cuddled up to him, one hand on his chest while he played with my hair and rubbed my back. "I have definitely missed this darling" I smiled up at him and leaned up enough to kiss him. "I've missed it too." He tightened his arms around me and kissed my forehead. "Get some sleep honey, I have a feeling Ehren will be up at some point tonight." I shook my head, frowning a little. With him being gone he had missed a lot already. "She sleeps through the night now Glenn but you are right, I am tired. Love you big guy." With that I gave him a kiss and snuggled deeper into his arms. "Love you too baby girl." It wasn't long after that that I fell asleep, listening to Glenn's even breathing as he slept. I was where I was the most comfortable, in his arms and I have missed it these past three weeks and I was going to enjoy it while I had him here.


	2. Chapter 1

**So sorry it took so long for an update, I've been dealing with assignments and exams and such. But I have managed to hammer out this chapter here; I am working on Silent Love as well, although this one is my priority. I have also made a Facebook profile for my author self; you can find it under http:/www (.) Facebook (.) com/kandyhawes. I will have story artwork there. Now on with the chapter, I hope you like it!**

_2 years earlier_

My father was going to kill me. This would be the third time this month that I was late for work. It really wasn't my fault this time though, the power had gone out in the middle of the night and so my alarm didn't go off this morning. No matter why I'm late though, my father would not be happy. You see, I work for my father, Murray Armstrong, at the restaurant he owns with my mother Candice. Being late meant that I was going to get the disappointed look, followed by a lecture about how much I let the rest of the employees down because they had to look after my tables. I knew the lecture off by heart seeing as I was the only person who worked there that got it. Not that it mattered, even when it came to small family things it was always me getting in trouble when really I didn't do anything.

I am the second oldest out of the Armstrong kids. My brother Dale is the oldest at 27 and works as a chef in the restaurant, mainly because that was the only place he could work without "betraying" our father. He's tall, about six feet with brown hair that is sometimes blonde, depending on his mood that month. Then came me, I was not planned, Dale was. I am 24, my hair is naturally a chocolate brown, however, like my brother I tend to dye it blonde, for some reason it just fits me. The twins came along next, 14 years old and very much planned for. Kelly and Kayli were handfuls, the troublemakers, the babies of the family and they got away with pretty much everything much to my dismay. Because my brother was the oldest and the twins were the babies it pretty much left me as the one who takes the blame for everything, at this point though it doesn't matter, I'm used to it and have learned to ignore my parents when they decide to go off on me while still looking like I am listening.

It took me all of thirty minutes to get ready and be out the door, I didn't want to take any longer than that incase my father was in a bad mood, which he usually was meaning the lecture I would have to sit through before getting any work done would be even longer. Luckily I had a downtown apartment, which was actually fairly cheap compared to most places downtown. I shared the apartment with my best friend, Shiloh Fitzgerald. I'd known her since I was a little kid and she was more like a sister to me, hell my parents treated her as if she were another daughter. She also worked at the restaurant part time as a dishwasher, it really was the only job she could do; she hadn't said a word since she was 10 years old.

Walking down the busy Toronto street I debated stopping in at my favourite coffee shop, maybe buy Mom and Dad a coffee each to keep them happy. Well, I'm already late so what harm could it do? It'll only add maybe 10 minutes to the hour I was already late, its not like Dad can get any madder than usual. With that decided I veered off in the direction of the Pierce Coffee Shop, it was owned by a little old man who had opened the shop nearly 20 years ago and I had been going there ever since it opened with my parents, then as soon as I was old enough to drink it myself I had enjoyed it, I found it to be better than both Tim Horton's and Starbucks combined, although I wouldn't say no to either of those either.

It was just my luck that when I entered the little shop there was almost no line at all. There were only two other people waiting for their coffee so I patiently stood behind them. Pierce always has the menu of the day on the counter and so I tried to see passed the two men and I was met with great difficulty in doing so, I am only 5 feet tall, the two men in front of me seem to reach for the sky…without actually reaching for it, they were massive! They were talking, quiet enough that I couldn't actually hear what they were talking about, not that I was actually listening but how often do you see one man around 7 feet tall let alone two. About a minute later Pierce handed them the drinks and they turned around, almost bumping into me. The one, taller one at that gave me a small smile and then the both left.

I nearly fell over. I knew exactly who those men were, I had only been watching them on television for years; my brother was a big wrestling fan and had gotten me hooked when I was about 2 years old. I had been standing behind my heroes and didn't even realize it, how stupid could I be? Of course its not like I would have actually had the courage to say hello to them, my luck I would babble nonsense at the poor men and where would that leave me? Probably in a nut house. I watched them as they walked out before turning to the counter where Pierce was looking at me with an amused smile.

"Just your luck you would be in here when they were, I was hoping you would show up, recognized them from when you showed me their picture on your laptop the last time you were here. Kane and the Caretaker or something like that wasn't it?" I couldn't help but laugh, I couldn't expect the old man to remember their exact names but at least he got the one right, the most important one in my mind. "It's the Undertake Pierce, but I'm glad you remembered who they were at least." Pierce only chuckled and shook his head. "Its hard to forget when they happen to be one of your favourite topics. Your usually I assume?" I nodded and then added "I need a large regular and a 2sugar with milk for my parents." Pierce nodded and got to work on my order, when he was finished he put them in a try for me. "$10.25 dear, I'm assuming you're late for work again." This man knows me way too well. "Alas I am! Oh well what's Daddy going to do fire me? Its not like I really wanted to work there in the first place. Anyway Pierce thanks for the coffee and I'll probably see you tomorrow morning, I really need to get to work." I said this as I handed him the exact change and with a small wave and a smile I was back on the path to hell…I mean work.

I have learned in the past that its not a good idea to attempt to sneak into work when late, its like my family is psychic, they always know even if they aren't in the same room as you. So rather than going through the back door when I arrived at the restaurant I put on a smile and tried to act like nothing was wrong before walking through the door. I noticed a few of the regulars that were in pretty much every day and gave them a small nod before I spotted my mother, glaring at me from across the room and looking very disappointed. I shrugged it off and put her coffee on the bar where she could easily find it before making my way to the kitchen.

My brother, always the jokester made a motion as if cutting his throat. Ha ha Dale, yes I know Dad is pissed. I stuck my tongue out at him and turned to where my dad was at the stove, completely ignoring me. "Morning Daddy, here's a coffee for you…" I trailed off knowing from the look on his face I was pretty much screwed. " You are late! Again! How many more times to I have to drill into your useless skull that you need to be here on time? I don't care why you were late but you are going to stay here late to make up for it your poor mother had to take your tables. Get to work!" He turned away from me and I just stood there with my mouth open. Okay then so he definitely was not in a good mood. Setting his coffee on the counter I made my way back to the dining room. Him yelling at me really didn't phase me anymore; I knew that as long as I worked hard today he'd be fine by tomorrow and then hopefully I wouldn't be late anymore.

We didn't actually get busy for a couple hours, something I was extremely happy about because the busier it was the more unhappy my dad would be, mainly because he would become stressed out beyond belief, sometimes I wondered why he didn't just have my brother run the kitchen he had gone to culinary school. Around 2 in the afternoon three people walked in the door and my mother led them to one of my tables. For the second time in one day I nearly fell over. My mother had just seated Kane, the Undertaker and the Big Show at my table and now I had no choice but to talk to them.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone, sorry this took a bit longer than I wanted it to. I had several assignments and an exam sneak up on me. I hope you like this chapter; don't forget I now have a Facebook account for my writing and review, please its what keeps me going. Again, so sorry it took so long. Hopefully I'll get into a routine of updating once a week. Also, sorry if it seems short I just wanted to get something out to you.**

I let out a deep breath before making my way over to the table, hoping to not royally screw this up. Okay Emily, you _can_ do this! "Good afternoon gentlemen, and welcome to Armstrong's. My name is Emily and I will be your waitress today." There I have said what I needed. "Do you know what you would like to drink or do you want a few more minutes?" A few more minutes? For drinks? Really Emily what is wrong with you? I mentally scolded myself repeatedly, only I could think of something so stupid to say, its not like they hadn't had a few minutes before I even got to the table.

I finally actually looked at the three men. Two of the three, Kane and Big Show to be exact, were giving me small smiles while Undertaker seemed to be indifferent. "We'll just have coffee to for now thanks." And cue melting. Deep, gentle, slight southern accent, oh boy I am in trouble. "Right, I will be right back with your coffees and that will give you time to pick something out from the menu." I didn't really wait for a reply, I got myself out of there as soon as possible and into the kitchen, where I could get the coffee, luckily for me the tables already had the sugar on them, I only needed to worry about carrying the coffee…and the milk as well as cream, hopefully it wouldn't cause a problem I tend to be slightly clumsy.

When I got to the kitchen it was just my brother, my father taking a quick smoke break. "Dale, you will _never_ believe who is sitting at one of my tables!" Dale looked at me and shrugged. " I don't know little sister, who?" I was nearly shaking with excitement. "Glenn Jacobs, Mark Calaway and Paul Wight!" I actually squealed. "Who?" Oh my god, all the times I've mentioned their names and he _still_ doesn't know their real names. I shook my head at him before answering. "Kane, the Undertaker and Big Show, honestly Dale don't you ever pay attention to what I tell you?" As I said this I worked on getting the coffee ready.

My brother laughed at me. While all of us kids were big wrestling fans I was the only one who actually bothered to learn about the real people. I took the time to find out who they really were and in most cases I was pleasantly surprised. Many of the heels, were actually really nice compassionate people, then again there were still some who were jerks on and off screen. Of course I never expected to meet them let alone serve them their lunch. It didn't bother me any, I just had to remember not to go all fan girl on them because for one thing that would be seriously embarrassing for me and secondly they would probably leave or ask for another waitress and that alone would kill me.

Finally the coffee was done and I was able to take it to their table, surprisingly without spilling anything or making a fool out of myself, something that I was very good at. "Okay, so here are your coffees, I will have the milk and cream over here in just a moment and then I'll take your orders if you're ready." I smiled at the three men and walked back into the kitchen to get the stuff that I'd left in the kitchen, if I hadn't have carried them separately then I would have had some problems, namely coffee and such all over the place. I sometimes wonder why my father had me working as a waitress; I was nowhere near being as good as mom and I was a perpetual klutz, I'd be better off in the kitchen. I grabbed the milk and cream and took a deep breath before making my way back into the dining room.

"Sorry about that, I'm a bit of a klutz so carrying everything at once would have been a disaster. Are you ready to order now?" I think I'm rambling a bit, that's okay though, it didn't seem to bother them at all or at least the smiles I got didn't make me think so. As for if they were ready to order, well were they ever. I think between the three of them they all had about four different dinners that they wanted. Between steaks, chicken, salads and such I was in for more than one run to the kitchen when I brought the food out. I nodded as I wrote down the orders, read the orders out loud just to make sure that I got them right and then gave them yet another smile. You may notice that I smile a lot, well as a waitress smiling was a key component to success, a happy waitress leads to happy customers.

They were my only customers at the moment and so as soon as I had taken their orders to the kitchen I made myself a coffee and a quick sandwich before heading to the staff table in the dining room. The table was situated in the corner of the room, away from most of the patrons but it still allowed us to see if a customer needed something. When we were busy however it quickly becomes a regular table. I couldn't take too long of a break especially if my dad was still angry; I hadn't actually been around him for about thirty minutes so it is possible that he had calmed down by now, or at least that's the hope. Periodically I looked back at the window between the dining room and the kitchen allowing us to collect the food quickly and easily. I also would look over at the table every time I felt like I was being stared at but every time I looked no one was looking at me.

It didn't take too long for the food to be done so as soon as I saw my brother set it on the window and nod at me I got up and attempted to take the food to the table. It took two trips but I managed to get all the food to the table with no accidents and quickly went back to my lunch, leaving them to talk about whatever it was they were discussing. Almost as soon as I was finished eating my mother led three groups of people to my tables and I was now forced to cut my break short and get back to work. That was fine though, it meant potentially more tips and even though I tended to drop stuff and wasn't always the quickest person I still managed to get the most tips every day that I worked, it angered my mom something fierce. By the time that the three wrestlers were done eating I was delivering food to the other customers' tables.

Five minutes later I was standing at the counter putting some glasses away and minding my own business. I never liked to bother the customers when they were eating. I was so into what I was doing that I hadn't even notice anyone walking up to me. "I don't mean to take you away from your work but we wanted to know if we could get the bill, we have to get to work." Holy hell, I think I jumped about a foot in the air and almost dropped the glass I was holding, not only did he surprise me but hell, Kane was talking to me. "Wow, sorry, didn't mean to scare you or anything, you okay?" I set the glass down and took a deep breath. "I'm fine, no worries, you just startled me that's all, is that together or all separate?" I could never just assume it was together, I had done that once and ended up in a lot of trouble. "Together if you don't mind, I can pay for it now, apparently it's my turn." I laughed a little, he sounded like he knew it wasn't his turn. "Well then, just let me put this together for you and you and the others can be off to the arena." Aw crap, well if he hadn't known that I knew who he was before he sure does now.

I shook my head and quickly calculated the bill and handed it to him before leading him to the cash register. He didn't hesitate to pay and I only smiled up at him when he was finished. He thanked me, wished me a good day and turned to walk away before stopping and turning back to me. "Are you free tomorrow night by any chance?" Was I what? I think I need to pinch myself, I am totally dreaming. "I uh, work until four but after then I'm free." He seemed to think for a second. "Would you want to go for dinner tomorrow around six-ish?" I am definitely speechless, for one the guy actually looked shy and two, well he was asking me out. "Yeah, sure, um do you just want to meet me here or…" He took out his cellphone and handed it to me. "If you want, just give me your number and I'll call tomorrow and we can figure it out then." I nodded and took the phone and quickly added my cellphone number.

When I handed him back his phone he grinned at me. "Great, I'll call you tomorrow around noon." I smiled and told him that I'd see him tomorrow and waved to him as they all left, laughing about something. It was then that my brother chose to take his break. "What's with you?" I shook off my shock and looked over at him. "Um, I think Kane just asked me out…" Dale promptly choked on his coffee.


	4. Chapter 3

**In honor of Glenn's birthday (Happy Birthday Big Guy!) I give you a chapter even though its three days late, and an apology for the lack of updates, I am such a bad author, forgive me? Also FYI, for those who don't know what hydro is (I said it to my sister and she looked at me funny, she lives in the States) its basically electricity, that's what the bill is called here, its not your electric bill its your hydro bill, I don't get it either. Also anything in **_**italics**_** is Shiloh using ASL. Also I know its short and I apologize I just wanted to get something out to you; the date will be in the next chapter. On with the chapter and please don't forget to review, they make me write faster also the link for my Facebook page is on my profile**

The rest of my shift had been relatively normal, considering getting asked out by the guy you've watched on television for as long as you can remember. I had to silence my brother though; he wanted to spout off to my dad about being asked out by Kane of all people, I knew for a fact that if he did that I'd be screwed. Dad hated wrestling and so for him to find out, well it just would not bode well for me, or my date for that matter although I don't think that my dad would ever have the backbone to take on Kane. Because I was late dad made me work an extra two hours, unpaid as punishment, you would think that at age 24 he wouldn't be able to punish me, well apparently a parent has the right until they die, sucks to be me I know. By the time that I was finally free I was beyond tired, the rest of the day may have been uneventful but the restaurant was very busy, especially for a Monday night, this was somewhat unusual. When I was finally free from my torture I headed off towards the apartment that I shared with my best friend and pretty much sister Shiloh. She'd been my best friend since her family moved in next to mine when I was 8, she had been 7 and we had become quickly inseparable. As soon as we had both graduated high school we moved in together to get away from our families, and of course to just be all around independent.

Judging by the time she would be home and probably would have made dinner considering she gets off work at the normal time of five. Rather than walking home like I normally would I caught the bus and ended up being home within ten minutes of leaving. Walking into the apartment I was greeted by the smell of spaghetti and was nearly drooling over myself. Spaghetti happens to be one of my favourite things to eat and we hadn't had it in awhile so this was definitely a treat. Shiloh was sitting on the couch watching the news while she waited for the water to boil for the noodles. I gave a small wave when she looked my way before setting my purse on the table next to the door. "So the power went out again, that's the 4th time in two months, we really need to talk to Joe about this, I know he wont be able to do anything but maybe he can talk to the people at the hydro plant because I know he paid off the bill." Shy just nodded to me and turned back to the TV. Our apartment was all-inclusive; the only thing we paid was our rent, cable and Internet bill, Joe, our landlord, looked after the rest.

"How was your day at the office?" Shy looked at me and just shrugged while giving me a so-so motion. "That good huh? You'd think it would actually be eventful, wasn't there some photo shoot today?" Shy shook her head and turned her attention back to the depressing news about our dying economy. She worked for a photographer here in town, she was just his assistant but really she should be a photographer herself, she had all the credentials and had even managed to go to collage for it with money she had gotten when her grandfather had passed away. The problem was that no one wanted to hire a photographer who couldn't talk to them. Its not that she cant talk, she used to talk all the time, until she turned 13, when her mom died, he just stopped, no one knows why, not even me but she had been close to her mother so I think it was because of her death it just makes sense to me. We both went to sign language classes so I would be able to 'listen' to her, her family had paid for the lessons, they had gotten a family package and it was for a 4 person family, because there were only three of them they asked if I wanted to go too. We didn't actually use it much though because we learned other ways, like her body language, plus we knew each other so well that at times we didn't need to say what we needed to, we just knew.

She looked at me again and gave me a look that clearly asked about my day, when you've been around her for so long you learn to read her very well. "Well dad was angry, nothing new, mom was mom, and neither of my sisters showed up and Dale was being Dale." I was going to leave out the details about meeting Glenn and the other two but I couldn't leave that out it was the best part of the day. "I did meet three people very interesting people and was asked out by one of them." I definitely had her interest now; it wasn't often that I was asked out so getting her attention this way wasn't hard. "You know how I'm always watching wrestling right? Well low and behold who walks into the restaurant today? Three of my favourites, and one of them, oddly enough, my favourite one, Glenn, well ok you may have heard me call him Kane, asked me on a date tomorrow and I would have been stupid to say no." My poor friend's mouth was almost touching the floor and she was soon gesturing madly. _What do you mean he asked you out? _"I mean he asked me out, we're going out tomorrow when I'm done working. _He better be picking you up here! He needs my approval first! _"Of course he's picking me up here, do you really think I'd let him pick me up at work, where my parents will be? I'm crazy Shy, not insane." She laughed at this and went to check on dinner. "I'm going for a quick shower, we can talk more about this after." With that I made my way to my room where I grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt before making my way to the bathroom and getting into the shower.

Fifteen minutes later Shiloh and I were sitting on the couch eating dinner, never having much use for the kitchen table if it were just the two of us eating, which it usually was although my siblings came over once in awhile for dinner and my sisters would sleep over on weekends when they could. This was pretty much our normal routine, we didn't really live exciting lives, we went to work, came home and hung out and that's it unless there is something big going on in the city, which seeing as we live in Toronto there is generally one big event a year. When we were done eating I went ahead and did the dishes since she cooked, its really only fair, whoever doesn't cook gets to clean up and the first one home was always the one to cook. It really didn't take long for the clean up process, there was a lot of food left so I packed what was left in containers and put some in the fridge for if we got hungry later or tomorrow and then the rest went into the freezer, dated so we'd know when it was put in there and it was basically for if we didn't know what to make one night plus we didn't want to waste any food if we could help it.

When the clean up was finished I went back into the living room where Shy was looking through our DVD collection for something good to watch. We settled on The Titanic, it really wasn't one of my favourites; I just honestly can't stand Leonardo DiCaprio. It is one of Shy's favourites though so I'm always willing to see through it for her and plus it lets me think, I can be silent and she wont know the difference. Generally if we watch a movie that we had seen multiple times or that I actually didn't like then I'd use the time to reflect, in tonight's case it was on the events of the day, mainly the fact that one of the people I would least expect to ask me out had, and I am beyond excited, even if I didn't show it very much. Because I rarely get out due to work I rarely get asked out and those who do ask me out end up being creeps, however I know for a fact that this would be different, its just a feeling I have.


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello my lovelies! I am so sorry for the long wait but life just hasn't given me enough time to actually sit down and work on any of my stories. I hope this makes up for it though. Thank you to those of you who have reviewed the previous chapter; it is much appreciated. Please don't forget to review this one. I have to throw a disclaimer in here so here it is: I own nothing but Emily, Shiloh and their families; I do wish that I owned Glenn though…Also I have split the date into two chapters that way I will have more content for the next chapter. Please don't forget to review, the more I get the faster I tend to work on new chapters :) Enjoy! P.S. Check out my Facebook, link is on my profile.**

The next day started out normally, I didn't even think about the date at all, mainly because of the fact that when I woke up this morning I was bleary and incoherent, some mornings I had trouble waking up and this just happened to be one of them. I had gotten up on time, thank heavens because I don't think I could put up with my dad being angry again, a few times a month fine but I am not going to put up with it two days in a row. Not that I would really care I know how to let it all go in one ear and out the other, mainly because I've heard it all before. I got to work on time, I was actually early and had to open the restaurant myself, take that dad.

It ended up being a fairly busy day in the restaurant as soon as we had opened people had started pouring in for breakfast, not that I minded, it just meant more money for us not that I'm greedy or anything but we are running a business here. When the breakfast rush finally ended around 11, the lunch rush began. This is how it normally was, one rush right after the other. Of course this meant more tips for us waitresses. By the time noon rolled around any thoughts that I would have had about my upcoming date had disappeared into the recesses of my mind, luckily it wouldn't be that way for long. I took my break right at noon and decided to go out for lunch, there was a little Chinese place down the street that I liked going to. As soon as I left the restaurant I took my phone out of my pocket and turned it back on, we were never allowed to have it on while we were working which I completely understood, there's really nothing worse than being served just to compete for your waiter or waitress' attention because they were on the phone.

Within moments of walking out onto the busy Toronto street my phone was ringing. Looking at the number I didn't recognize it but I was about to be rude by not answering. "Hello?" There was a brief pause before I could hear anything. "_Hi, is this Emily?" _ I was a little confused; I recognized the voice but couldn't exactly place it. "Yes it is," I felt like asking who it was but I didn't want to seem like I didn't know, how bad would that look if I really did know them, especially if I knew him well. "_Its Glenn, we met yesterday…" _Glenn, damn it, how could I forget about that important call that I should have been excited about all day. "OH, right, sorry it's been a really hectic day, my brain really isn't all there right now." It wasn't a lie, it was super busy and my brain has been scattered. " That's alright, I've had those days, I think everyone has." I had to laugh a little at this, once I thought about it I wondered why his brain wasn't completely scattered with all the traveling and events that he does. " I can imagine that your days would be a lot more hectic than mine." He chuckled a little and I felt myself shiver, damn man and his deep voice. "_It can get a little crazy, are you still up for going out tonight or are you going to be too tired by the time you can escape?" _Well at least he cared about whether I was tired or not, I have to give him credit for that.

"Of course we're still on for tonight, I'm tired but I'm not that tired." I could never be too tired to go out with him, because for one, who knows if I'd ever get the opportunity again and two, well he _is _Kane after all, I'd be beyond stupid to say no. _"Great, do you want me to pick you up at your place or would you rather meet up somewhere? I was thinking about dinner and then maybe having you show me the sights, I never have time to look around when I travel."_ Well, if I don't have him pick me up the Shy will be mad at me; she does of course have to approve of him. "How about you pick me up at my apartment and then I'll see what I can think of for sights around here." I already had a few ideas, there was the lakefront, which depending on the time we got there it would be a pretty sight to see.

We agreed on six o'clock and I gave him the address along with directions to the apartment from the hotel he was staying at. This certainly made my day better, gave me an extra spring in my step. I quickly ate my lunch, not really even paying attention to what I ordered and made my way back over to the restaurant. The regular customers definitely noticed a change in how I usually act, sure, I always put on the front of being happy while working, but now the happiness was real, I was excited and it showed. Several of the customers even mentioned how happy I looked. My only response to them was to smile and say that yes, I was indeed happy.

Mom and dad noticed as well, Dale had already known and promised not to say anything and so they knew absolutely nothing about the upcoming date. I knew that my father would freak if he knew, mom, well she'd follow along with whatever dad had to say which wouldn't have been nice so I wasn't about to tell them that I was going out with Glenn, well not who it was I was going out with, I'd happily rub it in their faces that I had a date. At one point my mom did ask me why I was happy and I simply said that I was going out on a date tonight and left it at that, it really isn't any of her business anyway. You would think that the afternoon would be slow now that I had something to look forward to but it really didn't, if anything it made the day go quicker. I guess when you're happy things just move faster.

Lucky for me I did manage to sneak out a few minutes early, making it so that I'd be able to walk home and still have time to get ready to go out. Glenn had said to wear something casual and comfortable since we'd be walking around after. It didn't take me long to get there and when I did I found myself alone, Shy wasn't home yet and so I headed to my room to figure out just what I should wear. I ended up finding a black knee length skirt and a pink tank top, hopefully that was what he meant about casual, I know it's comfortable; it was always one of my favourite outfits. Worn with my black flats it worked out perfectly, although I will admit to second guessing the shoes, with him being so tall and me being so short I debated wearing my boots instead but figured they may make me look slightly trashy so I wasn't going to go there, I really didn't want to give him the wrong impression about me.

I took a quick shower and got dressed before blow-drying my hair, I wanted to do something different with it but there wasn't really much I could do with it. My hair, already straight but slightly wavy I decided to straighten using a flat iron, at least then I could sort of do something with it in a way, it would at least look different, or at least like I put a little effort into looking better than I would at work. By the time I was done I had a half hour wait until her would get here. I went and sat on the sofa in the living room. Just as I sat down the door opened and Shiloh walked right in with a big smile on her face. This either meant that she had a really good day at work or she remembered my date even when I hadn't. It's likely that she remembered; she never forgets anything.

"What's that grin for? Do you know something that I don't?" Of course this really could be the case but when she motioned from me to the door it was definitely the date that she was happy about. Pointing at the clock on the wall she looked to me, silently asking when I would be leaving. "He's picking me up here at six, I knew you'd want to meet him so I made sure he'd pick me up here." Shy grinned a little wider and nodded her thanks. "So, I'm just a little nervous Shy, think it'll go well?" She nodded again and patted me on the shoulder before sitting beside me on the sofa. I leaned back and closed my eyes for a minute feeling Shy tapping my knee to get my attention. _You are sure he's a good guy right? Not some psycho? _I smiled and shook my head. "No Shy, he's fine or at least he should be. I really don't think that he's anything like you see on TV, then again, you never watch him on TV." She shook her head and motioned that she thought I was crazy. I laughed at her and nodded. "You might be right but that's the way you love me!"

She laughed at me, as she so frequently does. She may not talk, but she sure does love to laugh, especially if it's me that she's laughing at. I cant complain though, for about two years after her mom died she never really even cracked a smile so being able to make her laugh now makes me a very happy person. We talked for the remainder of the thirty minutes left in my wait; I hadn't even noticed that the time had gone by so quickly until we heard a knock on the door. The nerves that had been talked down had now resurfaced. Getting up I straightened out my skirt and looked at Shiloh, she was motioning frantically at me to hurry up and answer the door.

I plastered a bright smile on my face and took a deep breath before opening the door, finding myself looking at the man's stomach before looking up at him. "Hi there! I hope you didn't have any trouble finding the place, some people have a lot of trouble getting here." Nice Emily, start rambling as soon as he gets here. "No trouble at all, I kind of cheated, made sure I had a GPS." He smiled sheepishly and I grinned. "Oh and these are for you, I figured a beautiful woman deserved some pretty flowers, plus I thought they might brighten up your day a little." He handed me a bouquet of red roses and I blushed. "Aw thank you, they're beautiful, come on in while I find something to put them in." I backed away from the door so that he could come in and turning around I found myself face to face with my best friend. "Oh right, Glenn this is my best friend and roommate, Shiloh Fitzgerald. Shy, this is Glenn." Shiloh smiled at him and shook his hand when he offered it before looking at me. _Let him know that I'm not being rude please. _Glenn looked to me as if to ask what she was saying. "Oh sorry, Glenn Shiloh doesn't talk, she just wanted to me to tell you so that you didn't think she was being rude or something." A look of understanding crossed his face and I smiled before moving to the kitchen to find a vase. "Make yourself comfortable Glenn, I'll be just a minute."

While I hunted in the cupboard for the one vase I knew would fit the roses perfectly I could hear Glenn and Shiloh in the living room, he was talking to her, even asking her questions, yes or no questions of course but he was trying to communicate with her which gave him bonus points already. I finally found the vase I was looking for and added some water to it before setting the flowers on the kitchen table. Walking into the living room I smiled at the pair, Shiloh had pulled out a photo album and was showing off pictures of the two of us as teenagers. It was slightly embarrassing but I know she was just trying to keep him entertained. "You know Shy, if you wanted to show him the stupid stuff I've done you could have pulled out one of the tapes we made of our attempt to be dare devils." She looked up and grinned at me, making both Glenn and I laugh a little. "I'm ready to go if you are," I grabbed my purse and watched as he said goodbye to Shiloh. Thankfully its summer so I wont need a jacket at all.

Glenn guided me down into the main lobby of the building and then out to the parking lot to his rented SUV. I smiled up at him when he opened the door for me and thanked him. I set my purse on the floor beside my feet before getting comfortable and putting my seatbelt on as he got into the vehicle. I managed to really look at him now that I was sitting and he certainly looked good tonight, wearing a dark blue jeans and a red t-shirt. Again I smiled at him, I really couldn't believe my luck, how often does someone get to go out on a date with someone they see on TV every week. By the time he pulled onto the street I was already comfortable and whatever nervousness I had, had disappeared. I don't know why but somehow I knew that I didn't need to worry about tonight.

"So, do you frequently ask waitresses you meet out on dates?" I had a smile plastered on my face and he looked over at me briefly and smiled himself. "No, to be honest I haven't been on a date since before I got married." Ah yes, 15 years with a woman, one whom even I knew didn't suit him and I'd never met the woman. "Well then, I hope I can make this a good night for you then, wouldn't be good to have your first date in years be a disaster." Of course I didn't think that this would end up a disaster or at least I really hope not. "I'm sure it will be anything but a disaster, besides someone I know said its like getting back on a bike, cliché yes, but we'll see." I couldn't help but laugh, that was definitely one way of putting it.

We drove in comfortable silence for a few minutes before we pulled into the parking lot of a nice little restaurant owned by a friend of the family. This could get interesting. Many restaurant owners in the neighbourhood know each other so I can pretty much guarantee that my parents will get all the details of dinner. Oh well, there's nothing they can do about it. As soon as he parked the car he made his way to the passenger side and opened the door for me. I was happy to see just how much of a gentleman he is, there aren't many of them these days and it was highly refreshing. We made our way into the restaurant and were quickly seated and had ordered drinks. I happened to spot the owner, Marcy who was looking carefully at me as if she wasn't sure if it was actually me. Of course I knew the moment she confirmed that it was me because she took out her cellphone and I'm pretty sure that it was my mother that she was going to be calling.

"You okay? You seem a little distracted." I turned to look at the man sitting across from me and smiled. "I'm fine sorry, I happen to know the owner here and I have a feeling that she'll be relaying tonight to my mom." I tried to sound happy about it, really I'm not too worried all she will do really is lecture me about being with an older man or just to complain in general. "Is that going to be a problem, we can go somewhere else if you want." I shook my head. "It's not a problem, trust me this happens wherever I go if someone my parents know are there." He gave a small nod before speaking again. "A little over protective?" I wish. "No, they just feel the need to intrude on all aspects of my life, including my career, school and who I do and don't see. They even picked where Shy and I live." This of course is entirely true, they wanted it close to work so that I wouldn't be late for work and affordable. Of course I'm late anyway some days so it was pointless really. "Sounds like they care, they wouldn't have helped if they didn't." I smirked a little and shook my head. "If they cared they wouldn't have picked one of the dangerous parts of the city, well okay the majority of Toronto is dangerous but that's not the point. Around where they live would be better but because we don't have a car that wouldn't have worked out. Basically their reasoning was that because it was so close to the restaurant that I have no excuse to be late for work."

Glenn nodded before taking a drink of the wine he had ordered for the two of us. "Are you late often then?" I shook my head a little. "No, not really. The only times that I have ever been late for work has been when the power goes out during the night, it renders my alarm clock useless." I was cut off from saying anything more when the waitress returned to our table with our food. Unlike many women who are on dates I actually ordered something that would make me feel satisfied, I ended up getting a steak and everything that came with it, funny enough it was pretty much the exact same thing that he had ordered, he just ordered a bigger one. While we ate we talked mainly about his work, even though I knew a lot about it, it was nice to hear it from him, plus I got a completely different viewpoint on it as well. By the time we were done eating I was completely comfortable with him, what ever nerves I had been battling were now gone.


	6. Chapter 5

**Big thanks to Sonib89 and RhodieMuffin for the reviews, they are much appreciated and if I could I would give you both cake as a reward. You all may be shocked to see that I have this out so soon, well me too. I own nothing, and am making nothing off of this other than happiness. For those of you who actually know the names of his…thing –cough- I mean wife (I'm sorry I just don't like her…), I have changed their names just because I feel better that way. Don't forget to click that nice little button at the bottom of the page and tell me what you think, personally I think it sucks but that's just me, feel free to change my opinion. Anyway enjoy, I shall try to have another chapter out this weekend but I have two essays due on the 2****nd**** so I make no promises. **

When we were ready to leave the restaurant Glenn paid for our meal, leaving what appeared to be a generous tip even though he wouldn't let me see the bill or accept my offer to pay half. I had asked him why he wouldn't let me and he had said that it was because he asked me out and not the other way around, plus he had more than enough money; apparently this meal wouldn't put much of a dent in his savings. I wasn't about to argue with the man of course, if he wanted to pay then I was okay with that even though I would be happy to pay half. He led me out to his SUV; waiting at the door until I was in the vehicle at which point he shut the door for me. I put my seatbelt on and waited for him, smiling at him as he hopped in his side. "I'm going to assume that finding a car that you fit in is difficult." I couldn't help but mention it because lets face it; the man is huge. "You could say that yeah, I've just learned to never het a small car, no matter how far back I sit my knees are still at my ears." I had to laugh; I now had a mental picture of him driving a tiny clown car or something. "Well, look at it this way, when I drive I have to find a car where either the pedals move up or I need a tiny little car otherwise I'm pretty much on top of the steering wheel." He kind of looked at me and then at the steering wheel and then back at me. "Remind me to have you try to drive this thing, I want to see that." I shook my head but said "Sure." I figured why not humour him; besides it would be funny as hell to see, I've never attempted to drive an SUV. "So, where would like to go next, you said you wanted to see the city so is there anything specific that you'd like to see?" I myself had a couple places in mind, mainly just a couple of the really nice parks and maybe the beach if he wanted to check that out, maybe we'd even go to the C.N Tower, I myself had only gone up it once and it could be interesting.

"Well, its your city how about you pick, I'm open to anything." I nodded and gave him directions to the tower. If he wants to see the city then I am going to give the man a bird's eye view. From the tower we could walk to the beach so really it worked out nicely. The other good part was that it wasn't expensive and I'm determined to be the one to pay for this one. He parked the car and quickly made his way to my side of the car, opening the door for me before wrapping one arm around my waist causing me to scream an internal "Oh my God!" This of course was a good thing, I was happy to be held onto by him. We lined up at the ticket booth where I had managed to pay before he even was able to get his wallet out. I grinned up at him as he looked at me like I had done something that I shouldn't have. "What? You paid for dinner so now it's my turn. Its only fair, I don't want to spend all your money." He looked like he was going to argue with me but I just glared up at him. "Don't you say a word about it, I'm happy to pay for it and you will not win this argument." He just shook his head, not saying a word while we moved to get into line for one of the two elevators up the huge tower. Luckily for us the line moved quickly enough and we really only stood in line about ten minutes. Getting in the elevator was something that I was dreading, not only do I have issues with elevators but I also am afraid of heights. If this was a normal elevator the height wouldn't be an issue, however these elevators have glass floors so that you can watch the ground disappear beneath you, the last time I had gone up this tower I had hugged the operator all the way up with my eyes closed.

We stepped into the elevator and shuffled to the back, they let two other people on with us and so it was a slightly tight fit and I ended up standing closer to Glenn than I thought I would, pushed right up against him. When we started to move I mistakenly looked down and quickly decided that this was more than a bad idea. I ended up turning to face Glenn and decided that whether it was too forward or not I was going to use him as a shield from the height. I felt my face heat up and ended up breathing deeply in an attempt to calm down before whimpering and burying my face against his chest. I really wasn't sure how he was going to react to this but I'm not going to lie; I was terrified. I really should have warned him about this before hand. He surprised me by wrapping both arms around me and gently rubbing my back with one hand in a comforting way, it made me feel better, not much bit it did help a little. Minutes later we were at the top of the tower and he was leading me out of the dreaded elevator. Being able to look down and not see the pavement moving farther and farther away was a comforting thing, of course once I was on solid ground, well tower floor really, I realized how much of a baby I had acted like. "Are you alright now?" I looked up at him and nodded slightly. "I'm okay, I think, sorry about that, I probably should have warned you about my fear of heights." He nodded and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Come on then, lets look around so we can get you back on the ground."

We spent about an hour in the tower, taking a look at all the different parts of the city and we got a very good view of the lake, it was even a clear enough day that we could see the city on the other side of the lake that happened to be part of the United States. The whole time we were up there he kept a tight grip on me, making sure that I didn't get dizzy or lightheaded or something like that, of course I'd like to think that it was also just so that he could touch me in general. When it was time for us to leave the tower I hesitantly got on the elevator, after quickly suggesting that maybe we should take the stairs. Glenn shook his head with a smile on his face and tugged me into the elevator before turning me to face him so that he could keep my mind off the ground until we made it back onto the pavement and we shuffled out of the elevator. I myself was ready to kiss the ground, beyond happy to be back safely where I was meant to be. "You okay now?" I smiled up at him and nodded. "I'm just fine now thanks. I think this is the reason that I didn't grow passed five feet…any taller and I'd be terrified for the rest of my life." That lightened the mood a little and he looked a lot less worried about me, plus we were both laughing.

"So I was thinking that we could leave the car here and we could take a walk on the beach or something since it's so close and it's surprisingly a pretty sight to see." He nodded before taking my hand and walking in the direction of the beach. Dodging traffic was slightly interesting. We had waited at the stoplight and started to cross only to have the light change once again while we were in the middle of the crosswalk. The city really needs to fix these things. Once safely on the beach we started off on our walk, just out of reach of the incoming water. "So, we've talked about my career and your overbearing parents but what about your family in general, any brothers or sisters?" I nodded, looking up at him. "I have an older brother, Dale, he's 27, he works at the restaurant as well but he stays in the kitchen where he claims that its safe, from what I don't know but that's just him. And then of course there are my younger sisters Kelly and Kayli, they're 14 and they don't need to work in the restaurant but they do by choice, they like helping out. Then there's Shiloh, she's more of a sister to me than she is a best friend." In some ways Shiloh was more of a sister to me than my own sisters but that's not a big deal, I blame our 10-year age difference on that. "Big family. If you don't mind me asking why doesn't she talk? Is it a health thing or is she just shy?" I had to think about that one, for one it wasn't all that easy to talk about, mainly because no one really knew. "Well, to be honest no one really knows why. She's been to doctor after doctor and they can't find anything wrong with her, essentially she should be able to, in fact she used to. She hasn't said a word since her mom died so we all think it has to do with that." I wasn't sure if I should have told him that but he asked and I was going to be completely honest with the man, its no good to start a relationship with secrets, well that is if we have a relationship that is.

"I guess that makes sense, at least you two have managed to get around it, with the sign language I mean." The fact that he's taking an interest in her makes me happy, the last guy that I had very briefly dated had wanted nothing to do with her and any guy who was going to be with me needed to realize that my best friend was part of the package. "The sign language thing was her idea but its worked out really well for use, its to the point where we don't really need it anymore, I can usually tell what she wants to say that's how close we are. Anyway what about your family? Any siblings? Nieces or nephews?" I needed to take the topic off of me and Shiloh, as much as I wanted him to know me I needed to get to know him as well "Nope, no siblings, just mom, dad and I. Mark's kids call me their uncle and my ex's kids still look at me as dad which effectively makes me grandpa to the eldest's daughter." The fact that he had a granddaughter didn't bother me at all, I knew about her although I wont tell him that. "Well I'm glad that they still include you in their lives even after the divorce." It was a good thing, most step-kids would have cut the stepparent out of their lives if they got divorced, " To be honest it was them who told me to get rid of her, they know what their mother is like and quite frankly they don't approve of a lot of the stuff she did. I was more of a dad to them than their real father, he was never around so I kind of stepped into the role." Now that was what I liked to see, it was always a good sign when even though they should be loyal to their mother they know when she's hurting someone else.

"Do you get to go see them a lot then? Or when you're not working I mean." I was really hoping that he did indeed see them as much as he could. "When I can yeah, I'm on the road more than I am home but when I am home I try to see them as much as I can. I try to give Melanie and Joe a night off and take the little one for the night and we generally all go out for dinner or Amanda cooks, between you and me, Mel doesn't cook all that well." I smiled, looking down at the sand for a moment before craning my neck to look up at him. "Sounds like you're close, that's a good thing. I assure you though, I know my way around the kitchen." This gained me a laugh. "I'll have to have you cook for me before I have to leave town then, I can never say no to a home cooked meal." The fact that he was talking about seeing me again had my stomach fluttering, this was a good thing, a very good thing, or at least I think that it is. "You just let me know when you want me to, when do you leave anyway?" I was curious, mainly because I wanted to know just how much time I would have left with him. "Well, the show is tomorrow night and then I'm on vacation so essentially, whenever I want within a three week period." Three potential weeks with him if he stays here that long, I could so handle that. "Well I'd say tomorrow but you do have the show to do so what about the day after? I don't work that day so it works out." Sure it may seem like a little soon to see him again but hey if I have a limited time then I am going to use every moment that I can get, even if it doesn't lead to anything. "That works for me, you said you like wrestling, why don't you come with me tomorrow and get the backstage experience? I'll introduce you to a bunch of my friends if you want." Potentially three days in a row seeing him? Plus getting to meet a lot of the people I've watched on TV since childhood? Who the hell would be crazy enough to say no?

"If you're sure that I wont get in the way then I'd love to." He wrapped one arm around my waist and grinned down at me. "You wont be in the way I promise, if anything you'll just bear witness to the insanity that is the WWE. Trust me though if you stick by me you wont be in the way and when I'm in the ring I'll stick you with Mark." I was kind of startled by this. "Mark as in Mark Calaway as in big and scary Undertaker?" He laughed at me openly but I was in no way offended. I was being irrational, I know for a fact that he wasn't a bad guy, but he was scary looking. "Mark isn't as scary as he looks, once he gets to know you he'll probably try to play bodyguard or something." The fact that he said bodyguard slightly worried me, and obviously it showed on my face. "Not that you'll need one, just as the new face he'll probably want to make sure that no one causes problems." Well that certainly made me feel better. "I don't see it being a problem then, what time would I need to be there for? I do have to work tomorrow but I'm going in early so I should be done by four." Thinking for a moment he seemed to be calculating in his mind just what was going to work. "I can pick you up at seven if that's alright, that way you don't have to be on the bus plus I can get you in easier if you're with me than if you show up by yourself." That made sense. "That works for me, I can be ready by then."

The conversation waned a little, we walked in comfortable silence with Glenn pointing out some of the strange people who were also walking around, including some guy dressed like Michael Jackson and was playing the air drums by a tree. It was something that neither of us had really seen before and we were both highly amused by it. When we did talk it was after we decided to sit in the sand and it was about little things, music choices for one, which we were really similar with our musical tastes that of course could be due to the fact that I will literally listen to everything. Eventually he glanced at his watch and realized that we had been on the beach a good two hours and both of use had to get up early in the morning. We decided to call it a night and he drove me back to the apartment. He surprised me by walking me inside and right to my door. Before we said goodnight he bent to kiss me on the cheek and told me that he'd see me tomorrow before ushering me into the safety of my apartment.


	7. Chapter 6

**A big thanks to those of you reviewed the last chapter; you deserve cake! The more I get the easier it is to write it seems. I do apologize for the long wait. I have been working on this chapter for months. I had a good amount done the day after the last chapter was uploaded, I had actually written 5 pages but then writer's block hit and since then I just haven't had the time, I have now reached a new record of 9 pages. So I hope you enjoy this, please let me know, there is a pretty button at the bottom of the page in which you can do so Suggestions are more than welcome as well. Don't forget, I do have Facebook. Feel free to add me I have images and banners there, you can find me under "Kandy Hawes". **

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When I walked through the door the night before Shy had been sitting on the sofa just waiting to pounce on me for information. I spent a good hour sitting with her, basically telling her every minute of the night. When the hour was over she finally let me go as she had to be at work for 6am for some photo shoot and I needed to be awake for the same time. In other words, in the morning we were both going to be pretty much useless. Nothing a little coffee can't fix. Before going to bed I grabbed a quick shower, I didn't want to have to have one in the morning, this was to maximize my sleep time, mainly because I had the feeling that while Smackdown was only two hours long, we would probably, and by probably I mean hopefully, be hanging out longer than that. I had enjoyed myself more than a little bit and couldn't wait for morning, even if I would have to deal with my parents but as I crawled into bed I wasn't worried about what they would say. I had had fun and that is all that matters. I got comfortable fairly quickly and before I knew it, it was morning. When my alarm went off the next morning I wanted to kill it, I had been in the middle of a very pleasant dream, which had revolved around me telling my parents off, and me being swept away to a far away land. Oh how I only wish.

By the time I had made it to work I was already ready to hurt people. For whatever reason, the normally empty bus that I took to work everyday was full and by full I mean people were pretty much standing on top of each other which for me was a very bad thing, I felt like I was going to turn into a pancake, not to mention the man I had been stuck standing near had the worst body odor I had ever smelled. It was bad enough that I had wanted to vomit. That in itself was enough to put me in a bad mood. Of course after I got off the bus I still had a short five-minute walk in order to get to the restaurant. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to deal with all the rude people who were also trying to get to work. These people have no problem pushing and shoving others out of the way just to get to the subway or to other buses and into the tall office buildings that surround the city. Ducking and dodging said people I managed to arrive alive and made my way to the bar where we kept the cash register. Mom and dad were really old fashioned when it came to running the place, they didn't have a fancy computer, the only high tech in the place was the debit machine for paying and that was only out of necessity, if we didn't have it then we'd be out of a lot of customers. Beside the cash register were all the notepads that we used for taking orders, I had a specific one for myself, simply because I wanted my own, it was pink and even had my name as a watermark on it, I had spotted it in one of the discount stores last year and had bought an entire case worth, they were only a dollar each and the cases had thirty in them, a good investment if you ask me. Either that or I was just spoiling myself but I'm pretty sure that in my head I had turned it into a need rather than a want.

Mom and dad weren't in yet; this of course was a good, very good thing. Why so good? Well it means that my brother opened up this morning and because he lives with my parents then he'd definitely know just what I was to expect when they walked through that door. After grabbing a pen as well as my notepad I stuck them in my pocket and headed into the kitchen where my brother was prepping some of the food for the day such as washing and pre-cutting vegetables, its not something that dad usually likes done but when Dale opens, he always does it, mainly because it makes the day run smoother. "Good morning Dale," While my way into the restaurant had been miserable there was no reason to be miserable with my brother, he was one of my best friends and if you were moody with him he was generally moody back. "Morning sis, I hope you're ready for Hurricane Mom." Well then I guess its safe to say that mom was home to get that phone call last night. Oh well, I'll deal with it when she gets here. "Dale, I have dealt with Hurricane Mom for 24 years, I can handle her." Dale only shook his head while laughing at me before giving me a knife and telling me to make myself useful before mom killed me. "So are you going to tell me how that date went or not?" I washed my hands before picking up an onion to peel and chop. "Well big brother, what went on last night is for me to know and you not to find out." He raised an eyebrow and I just smiled. "Look Dale, you're my brother, talking about my love life with you, well its just odd." He chuckled before telling me to get into the dining room, Mom and Dad would be in at any moment and I wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the kitchen unless asked to be or if I was on break and getting lunch for myself, something that I very rarely do.

I finished off the onion that I was chopping before I moved back into the dining room. Again I decided to make myself useful by grabbing utensils and placing them in their rightful place on the 20 tables. I was halfway done when my parents walked through the door. Dad looked like he always did; stern and not in the mood to deal with silly little things; work came first, then deal with the rest of the world. My mother on the other hand looked, well not happy. She was down right pissed off. Normally she would follow my father into the kitchen and help out until someone came in and sat at one of her tables. Today however she chose to quite literally march right to me. "So, Marcy called me last night, said that you were at her restaurant with some man that she's never seen before, an older man at that. Do you want to tell me just what the hell you were thinking?" Hurricane Mom strikes again! "Well Mom, I was thinking that I'm 24 years old and can do what I want." Probably not something that I should have said but I really don't care. "24 years old or not, you have no idea what you're doing. A man like that only wants you for one thing and one thing only." A man who has a steady job and is intelligent? "Okay, first of all Mom you don't know him so don't judge him. He is a good man who is smart and has managed to hold the same job for over 15 years. I'm sorry if that's not good enough for you but its perfect for me." And that was all I was going to say on the topic. I was not about to have a battle with my mother over my choice of a date. I've let my parents run my life long enough.

I walked away from her and headed off to finish cleaning the tables before the day got started, we always cleaned them before we left for the night but for some reason I always also cleaned them again in the morning, I don't know why I do this but I do it, I think it could be possible that I actually have a small case of OCD or something. Otherwise I'm not sure why I feel the need to do this, not like its that big of a deal it just means that we have the cleanest tables in town or at least that's how I like to look at it as it makes me feel better. For the rest of the morning I didn't speak to my mother unless I was telling her that she had a customer at one of her tables if she wasn't in the dining room. Surprisingly enough she hadn't said anything more about the date either, which was great because I didn't want to deal with it at the moment. Luckily the morning seemed to pass by fairly quickly and before I knew it was lunchtime. One would think that this would be the point in time that the lunch rush would arrive but no, our usual lunch rush lasted an hour and actually began at 11. This meant that by noon the restaurant was actually fairly empty and if I wanted to take my lunch break I could. I was getting ready to do just that when I heard the door open making me look up from the table that I was currently wiping down.

I couldn't help but grin as Glenn walked through the door accompanied by Mark. They sat themselves own at the same table they had sat at the last time that they had been in. Thankfully my mother was not in the room at the moment because I'm sure that her friend had described him to her and I didn't want to deal with that at the moment. I made my way over to the table, my grin never leaving my face. "Well hello there, you are about," I paused to look at my watch. "5 or 6 hours early." Glenn laughed at shook his head. "Well we were both hungry and I figured we liked it here last time plus it gives me a chance to say hi." I nodded before deciding that I could indeed joke around a little bit. "Well I hate to tell you this but I'm now on my break and so you'll have to deal with someone else." Of course I still couldn't get rid of the grin that was pretty much plastered to my face. "Well even better then you can join us." And I hadn't thought of that, it was indeed a good idea. "Tell you what, give me your order, I'll make sure it gets done and then I'll join you, the only other waitress in right now is my mother and well I don't want to subject you to that right away." They both kind of looked around as if they were trying to find her. " Is that going to cause a problem?" Mark spoke, for the first time directly to me. " Only if I don't get your food first and she realizes that it was Glenn here that I went out with, although you may just give her a heart attack which might not be a bad thing." I said with a laugh, I took their orders before adding mine separately and then ran to the kitchen to make sure they got done fairly quickly. I discovered when I got to the kitchen that Mom and Dad had snuck out the back door in order to get some food that we were running low on and so I helped Dale with getting the meals ready.

Within 20 minutes I was walking out of the kitchen with three meals, two of which were huge, as were the men who would be eating them. "Okay men, here you go and I'll have you know, I helped so you better enjoy it." I said this with a laugh of course, while I did indeed hope they liked it they didn't have to just because I helped make it. "Well I'm glad we caught you on your break, it works out nicely for us." I nodded before taking a bite of the pasta that I had quickly put together. Mark was staring at the two of us; I had sat myself down beside Glenn and was perfectly content where I was seated. "So Glenn, are you going to actually introduce us or do I have to guess everything about her?" I grinned at Glenn, watching him think for a minute. "Well guessing could be fun and you and I both know that I've already told you about her. For the record though; Emily this is Mark, Mark, Emily. Happy?" The fact that he had told his best friend about me was a good sign, or at least I thought so. "Yes, very. Now, Emily just how is that he managed to convince a young thing like you to go out with an old man like him?" He caught me slightly off guard with that question, not only because Glenn was now looking at me as if he was really curious about that himself but because well Mark is older than Glenn. "Well I don't see him as old, just experienced and besides Mr. Calaway are you not older than he is old man?" Glenn laughed and poor Mark's jaw dropped. It took him a minute but he did recover and began laughing along with us. "I will give you that one." I only grinned wider. Of course they had me distracted, I wasn't paying attention to what was occurring around me and my brother managed to sneak up on me.

"So, which one of these gentlemen is it that has Mom in a fit?" I really wanted to kill him but unfortunately he is my only ally against my family. "Glenn, Mark. This is my older brother Dale. Dale, this is Glenn and Mark. As for who has Mom going, that would be Glenn." Dale shook both their hands and made himself comfortable beside Mark. Glenn looked at me and then back at Dale. "What do you mean has your mom in a fit?" I covered my face with my hands and groaned. "You remember that woman at the restaurant that I told you would probably tell my mom that we were there? Well she did and now Mom is just…well she's being difficult but its nothing that I can't handle." Or at least that's what I hoped. "Do I need to be worried about meeting this woman?" I saw the look on my brother's face and decided that nothing good was going to come out of this. "Oh yeah, be scared man, she's a fiery dragon of doom!" Glenn blinked a few times, looking like he didn't know what to say to that. "Dale behave, she's not that bad and if she says anything well then it sucks to be her." I really didn't want Dale to scare the poor man away from me.

Glenn didn't seem so sure but I patted his arm in comfort while smiling. "Don't you worry, I'll protect you from the big bad mother." Mark was pretty much laughing himself to death by this point and so was my brother. "I'm sure I can protect myself from her, I doubt she's completely horrible." Oh how I hope he's right. Dale sat with us while we finished eating since there were no other customers. We were almost finished when my parents walked into the dining room from the kitchen, probably looking for Dale. I had my back to the kitchen and so I didn't see or hear them until Dale looked up and then looked at me, nodding over my shoulder. I turned to look and wished that I hadn't. My mother was facing me; and her arms crossed with a look that could kill firmly plastered on her frowning face. Dad was just staring by the doorway. It was only slightly terrifying. Mark had looked up as soon as they had entered the room; Glenn on the other hand was paying little to no attention as he was focused on his food. Of course once he realized we were all looking at the same place he put his fork down and turned to look.

She started walking towards us stopping beside me and quite literally looked down on me. I sighed and looked at her. "Afternoon Mom, this is Glenn and Mark, guys this is my mom Candice Armstrong." I hoped and prayed that she would be nice, I wasn't going to hold my breath about it but I could still hope. "And just which one of these men is it that you were gallivanting around with last night?" And there goes the small grain of hope that I had. "Um, that would be me ma'am." Poor Glenn, he didn't look too sure of what to say to her. "Hm, and just what is it that you want with a 24 year old?" Oh please let the ground swallow me whole. "Mom, leave him alone. Seriously." If I didn't stop this woman she will never shut up and may ruin any chance I have with him and I was not about to let that happen. "As you said mother I am 24 years old, just leave it alone." She huffed and walked into the kitchen, my father following close behind. "What in the hell was that?" Mark was looking at the door as if she was going to come back and bite him. "Congratulations, you just survived Hurricane Mom." Dale said laughing. "Hurricane Mom is right, I seriously thought she was going to kill me for a minute there." Glenn said looking wearily at the door leading to the kitchen. I was now picking at my food. My mother had managed to embarrass me within seconds and I had a feeling that Glenn would want nothing more to do with me. Who would when I have a mother who hovers over me constantly?

"Don't worry about her, her bark is way worse than her bite. Sometimes I think she talks just to hear herself complain." I could feel Dale looking at me and knew that had been for my benefit. "Hey I dealt with worse with my ex-wife, trust me that was nothing." I raised my head to look at Glenn who was smiling down on me. "If I was able to put up with her for 15 years, your mother would be nothing compared to that, its not like I have to live with her. Your sister doesn't have her moods though does she?" I sat there with my mouth open in shock. "Nah, just don't piss her off or hurt her, she fights back. A vicious little thing she is." I shook my head at my brother. " I am not vicious! I'll defend myself but that's about it." Dale grinned at me and I was slightly worried about what h would come up with next. "This is coming from the women who broke my nose when I wouldn't get off of her tricycle?" I had actually forgot about that, and for the record it was his fault. I had warned him. " Ok it wasn't broken and I gave you three warnings to get off of it, it is not my fault that you didn't listen." Glenn and Mark were both laughing and Dale as grinning while I attempted to defend myself, not like I really needed to but I did anyway. I unfortunately had to get back to work once more customers started arriving. I was sad to have to work instead of spending time with the guys but that's life. Apparently Glenn and Mark were going to stay for awhile longer, drinking coffee and just conversing so I cleared the plates from the table before moving to the kitchen.

Glenn and Mark left almost a half hour later with Glenn promising to pick me up when my shift ended which I really couldn't wait to be over. The rest of my shift was fairly busy and spent being glared at by my parents whenever I was in their presence. Luckily because of how busy it was the time seemed to fly by. I hadn't even realized what time it was until I had been calculating a bill for a customer. Dale had been on his break again, having been about four hours since his last one, and was standing with me while drinking coffee. "Your man's here." I looked up from the pad of paper that I was using to figure out the bill and grinned as I watched Glenn walk towards me with his hands in his pockets. "Gee man, you must _really_ like the food here, you just can't stay away!" I looked at my brother and shook my head, trying hard not to laugh. " Yeah well, the food is good and the staff are pretty." I blushed and was about to tell him that I would be ready to go in a few minutes but my brother beat me to the punch. "Well now, I know you think I'm gorgeous but I'm sorry I just don't swing that way." I couldn't stop it this time, I ended up laughing so hard it hurt and I wasn't the only one, Glenn was laughing just as hard, if not harder. This was a good sign though. My brother and date got a long and by the way they were interacting Dale definitely approved of Glenn.

"As gorgeous as you are Dale, your sister is better looking." I don't think that my grin could get any big but it did and if my brother's jaw were to drop even further then he may be able to be the new vacuum cleaner for the restaurant. "No worries Bro, the right one will come along eventually," I said patting his shoulder before looking at Glenn. "I'll be ready to go in a few minutes I just have to give the wonderful people at table 8 their bill." Glenn nodded and told me to take my time before turning to talk to Dale. I made my way to table 8 and flashed the elderly couple a smile. I gave them their bill, and luckily they were the kind of people who paid with cash only, and gave they gave me a hefty tip as well. I wished them a good day and made my way back over to the cash register to put the money in the till before turning back to the guys and smiling. "Okay, I'm all set to go now. Free me from my prison Kane!" I don't know exactly why I said it that way but both men seemed to find it funny. "Shouldn't he be locking you up in a prison, Kane isn't the hero, get your facts straight sis. Geez and you call yourself a fan!" Of course by now we were all laughing and I decided that we needed to get out of there. "Alright enough fooling around, I need to get changed before we go to the arena." I was determined to look good tonight and at the moment I was in dress pants and a blouse, not something that one usually would wear to a wrestling event. I had turned to Glenn and started to gently push him to the door, trying to get out before my parents made an appearance, well that wasn't the only reason but that was one of the main reasons.

Thankfully Glenn seemed to sense my urgency to get out of there and led me out to the parking lot where he once again opened the car door for me before heading out to my apartment. During the short drive we talked about how the rest of my day had gone and what he had done all day, which had been an autograph signing at the largest mall in the city. Arriving at the apartment I knew we'd have it to ourselves until we left, Shiloh had a photoshoot today that, knowing her boss, would go well into the night. Unlocking the door I turned and smiled at him. "Make yourself comfortable. There are drinks in the fridge, help yourself. I'll only be ten minutes at the most." I was excited to get out of these pants, while I'm not a skirt or dress person these dress pants were just to stuffy for me and I was overjoyed to be able to change into jeans. I had thought about wearing a skirt but because I was backstage and Glenn himself was in jeans I was going wear my nicer black jeans and a sky blue spaghetti strap tank top. It wasn't overly dressy but I wasn't dressed like a slob either it was a perfect combination of the two and I would be comfortable. I also decided on my black flats for shoes, I had a feeling I'd be standing most of the night and at least with those shoes I wouldn't end up with sore feet. I had laid out the clothes before I left this morning so it literally took me less than five minutes to get changed. I spent another few minutes trying to fix my hair. Rather than fighting with it however I chose just to use a headband to keep it out of my face.

When I felt like I was decent enough to be seen in public I made my way back out to the living room and the kitchen where Glenn was leaning against the counter drinking a glass of water. "I suppose I should have told you where the glasses are sorry." He smiled and nodded. "They weren't too hard to find, most people put them above the sink so it's the first place I looked." I knew he was smart but that was just genius, of course I'm fairly simple minded, hence why that seemed to be so awesome to me. That or I'm just easily impressed. "I honestly never would have thought of that, anyway are you ready to go?" he nodded before finishing off what was left in his glass and putting it in the sink. "I'm ready if you are." I was more than ready, not only was I getting the chance to see how things were run behind the scenes I was also able to spend another day with Glenn and every time I saw him my day seemed to get brighter and brighter. Of course that could also be because of the fact that he was getting me away from my parents but that was only a small part of what was happening. I grabbed my purse off of the counter and made my way towards the door with Glenn following close behind me. I closed and locked the door once he was through the doorway, having to duck under the doorframe to avoid hitting his head. Within minutes we were in the SUV and on our way to the arena.

"So where's that friend of yours tonight? I thought she would have been waiting with more photos of the two of you." I smiled and nodded. "You know what she probably would have if given the chance. She had to work late. She's a photographer's assistant so she has to stay for the duration of all photo shoots, which as you should know can take forever. The shoot itself wasn't scheduled until early this afternoon so she probably won' be home until after midnight, unless of course things go _really_ well but nothing is guaranteed. And now I'm rambling." I had said this all in one breath, and ended with a n awkward laugh. "You're far from rambling trust me. It seems like she has an interesting job though, a tough one though. I've seen the way that most photographers treat their assistants and its never good." Oh he hit the nail on its head there. "Well, Phillip is a handful that's for sure. She had actually applied to be one of his photographers and not an assistant but because she doesn't talk he decided that no one would want to talk direction from someone who couldn't vocalize what it was she wanted the subjects to do. She's a fully qualified photographer but no one seems to want to give her a chance so she sticks with working as an assistant so she can at least be involved in some way. Personally I think she should start her own business but that's just me." He looked at me briefly before turning his eyes back to the road. "Well I don't see how its fair to discriminate just because she doesn't talk, couldn't they have hired a sign language translator or something?" I couldn't help but grin, he seemed to have the same thought that I had at the time. "Well that's what I had said. I even volunteered, mainly because I wanted to help her and it would get me away from the restaurant, I had gone with her for the interview so I could translate and told Phillip that I would do it but he said no so I wasn't going to argue with him." For the rest of the drive we talked about her work as well as mine, focusing more on the people that I have met, including various celebrities that have wandered in on the days that I worked.

When we arrived at the arena I wasn't willing to admit that I was nervous. Not because of the date itself but because I would be meeting the people that he had worked with for nearly 15 years, and I'd be spending even more time with Mark, who thankfully is far from the terrifying man that I watched on television weekly. I'm not saying that he's completely opposite from what you see on television but in the time we had spoken this afternoon I got the distinct feeling that he was extremely close to his Bad Ass persona while still being a fairly nice guy. The other issue was that while Glenn was in the ring I'd be on my own and while I normally wasn't scared of men, lets face it, the majority of the men, and by majority I mean all, are quite frankly huge and that in itself made them extremely intimidating. I know I shouldn't be worried, but how many times in your life can you say that you were surrounded by giants and not be nervous the first time? Glenn parked the SUV at the back of the building by the staff entrance. I couldn't stop myself from laughing when I saw the look on his face when he realized that I gotten out of the vehicle without allowing him to open the door for me. To be honest he looked like he was pouting a bit. I giggled as he opened the back door to grab his bag before walking over to where I was standing, slightly in front of the SUV, and wrapping one arm around my waist, guiding me to the entrance where he flashed some I.D at a man who was standing just inside the doorway, wearing a black t-shirt that said security in white. I wasn't really paying attention while he spoke to the man; I had been trying to get a glimpse of what was behind him, which honestly was just a dark hallway.

I was pulled away from my observations when Glenn's hand went from around my waist to resting on the small of my back, lightly pushing me in the direction that he wanted me to go in. I was slightly hesitant but at the same time I was excited. Once I started walking in the direction he wanted me in he wrapped his arm back around my waist while looking around for what I assumed would be the locker room. What I wasn't sure about was whether or not he would be in his own locker room or if he'd have to share one. We weren't that far down the hallway before people started appearing, we had rounded a corner, about 10 feet down the hall and that's where all the excitement seemed to be. There were people everywhere. Some were obviously wrestlers, they were hard to miss, however also present were the crewmembers that were wearing black t-shirts and blue jeans or slacks. Finally there were others who were either producers or executives as they were in suits, there were only about two of these people milling about. I vaguely heard Glenn talking to me but I was too busy looking around to really pay attention to what was being said until he squeezed my waist lightly just to get my attention. "What? Oh crap, sorry! What were you saying?" Surprisingly enough, he seemed to be fairly amused by my lack of attention and shook his head. "I was asking if you wouldn't mind hanging out with Mark while I was in the ring, at least with him I know you wont get lost. It can get confusing back here once the show starts and I'd rather you have someone with you." Well, I suppose that makes sense. I'm just glad that he had suggested someone that I already knew, of course I didn't know him well but I had at least met him already. "That's fine, maybe I can get some embarrassing stories out of him." I grinned while looking up at him, trying not to laugh as he looked like he was second-guessing his decision. "I'm not actually sure that he has any, but feel free to ask. "

I fully intended to do just that. "Oh trust me big guy, I will be asking. I'm sure he has some dirt he can share. You've been doing this 15 years or so? There has got to be something he can tell me." Really I just wanted to learn a little more about him from the perspective of one of his friends. "I'd tell you good luck but I'm pretty sure that even if he can't remember anything he'll make something up." After a few more minutes of walking and poking some fun at each other Glenn stopped to talk to a woman wearing a headset and holding a clipboard. As it turns out he was trying to find out where his locker room was which I quickly learned he was sharing with Mark. From what the woman said we had actually passed the room while trying to find her. From there we made our way back to the room that the woman, whose name was Lori, had pointed out. Instead of just entering the room, Glenn knocked, yelling out a warning to Mark that he had better be decent or else we were going to get an eyeful. This of course made me laugh, that would be some story to tell Shy when I got home, if of course that happened.


End file.
